ABSTRACT: The OFT's new short-form opinion process was developed in responseto concerns expressed by businesses and Government policy makersthat some beneficial collaboration agreements were not goingahead for fear of breaching competition law. The lack of recentprecedents in a self-assessment world appeared to be resultingin businesses and their advisers adopting a cautious approachat times. It is hoped that the guidance provided in the newshort-form opinions goes some way to fill this gap so that competitionlaw is not seen as chilling procompetitive agreements. The firstshort-form opinion has been published recently.